Wednesday Blues -Part III

Classes were off that week for the Pujas. She had gone to Thailand for a holiday with her family. They met a week later again on a Wednesday. She had brought the snaps along and also her slam book. Everyone was getting their slam books to school these days, after all it was their last year.
She nudged him to see the snaps, but he seemed hardly interested. “Now, why on earth is he acting so cold ?” she thought.
“Okkay !!” she chimed in. “If you don’t wanna see the snaps, atleast sign my slam book !!”
He observed the autograph album obscurely with a look of reluctance.
“Who do you have here on the cover? If it’s Ganguly, I won’t sign. I don’t like him.”
She didn’t force him. She could have blurted out “Don’t sign! Who cares anyway?” But she didn’t and merely glanced at him sideways. A few minutes later he took the album and started going through the pages in the beginning.
“Oh so Siddhi’s signed here” he said. Having scrutinized every word Siddhi had written, with a smile plastered on his face, and also checking out that he was the first 'boy' who was signing this particular slam book , which massaged his ego, beyond imagination (I mean to Anoushka’s imagination, since she never suspected guys could be such jerks sometimes ) he scribbled something in a hurry and threw it carelessly on her lap.
“Oh I’ve written something, can’t write more…I find all this stuff really silly !” he said out aloud with an air that said he had done her a huge favour. There was silence, the entire class was looking at the two of them and she was speechless. How dare he insult her this way , when a few moments ago he was savoring all that Siddhi had written? She swore never to speak to him again.
“Go and tell the world that I’m crazy about Roshni! I don’t care whether she has a boyfriend!” This was, next class .The boys just whistled, oohed and aahed but there was no stopping him and the female in question was so exhilarated that she could hardly bear down her animated hilarity. A Punjabi girl had joined in that day. He left no stones unturned in enthralling her in the next few weeks. Anoushka had called him over twice or thrice at his place, during better times. She had learnt that he did not have a father. There was always a part in her that wanted to take care of him. She never could read into his behaviour, after that day’s incident. Was that slam book, the biggest mistake she ever made? They had only a few weeks of class left, before the boards and Anoushka wanted them over, as soon as possible.
Later that year when the boards were over she went for the BITS Mesra exam where she caught a glimpse of him, at her center. He was looking at her from a distance. But they scarcely recognized each other now. They both went their own ways, then and forever. (END)